Caretaker
by OmgPandi
Summary: Fives times the Iwatobi boys and Rin each helped Gou and the one time someone else did.


**A/N:** Another de-anon from the Free! Kink Meme at iwatobiswimclub over at Dreamwidth. I can only seem to write for Free! with the help of kink meme prompts... and they're always fluffy. :'D

**Original prompt:** _I'd like a fic where all of the Iwatobi Swim Team and/or Rin defend/protect Gou either subtly or overtly. Something like preventing creeps from hitting on her, or fussing over her when she's sick, ect. It can be shippy or it can just be gen, either way's fine!_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Free!

* * *

Sometimes Gou Matsuoka doesn't understand the boys at her school. It was common for them to walk over to her during lunch with bright smiles on their faces before the expression suddenly turned sour and they walked in the opposite direction. It was _odd_, even for Iwatobi High School.

Gou sighed and turned back to Nagisa, who was still talking about how Rei almost broke his glasses yesterday. She nodded a couple of times, letting Nagisa know that she was at least listening to him. In the back of her mind, she wondered why exactly those boys would turn and run away. It's not like she would attack them or anything, she's a pretty easygoing person. The only thing that could make her mad was someone calling her "Gou."

"Hey Gou-chan! Aren't you listening?" Nagisa asked, pouting slightly. Gou snapped out of her thought and gave her full attention back to Nagisa.

"It's 'Kou!' And yes, I was listening." Gou said, glaring slightly at Nagisa. Nagisa just smiled and returned back to his story. While his eyes were closed, Gou looked around and noticed another boy walking towards her. She waved at him and he smiled and waved back.

She didn't, however, notice that Nagisa had finished his story. When he opened his eyes again, he was surprised to see someone else at their table, talking to Gou. Nagisa could see that the boy was nervous and he should be, he looks like he's about to ask Gou out! So when the boy looked over at Nagisa, he mustered up as much hatred and anger as he could and glared at the other boy. It got the response he wanted and the boy visibly flinched under Nagisa's heated glare.

Gou, oblivious to Nagisa's anger, didn't see that the boy was now scared to be anywhere near this table.

"U-Um hey Gou-san, I actually n-need to head back over to my table." the other boy said, noticing how lame the excuse sounded. Gou looked slightly annoyed at being interrupted. "I still h-have to finished lunch!"

"Um okay… bye-"

"Bye!" And just like that, the boy left the table, leaving Gou and Nagisa all to themselves.

Gou watched as the other boy went back to his table before turning back to Nagisa. When she did, she noticed a mischievous -and accomplished?- look in the other boys eyes.

Yeah, Gou was pretty sure she didn't understand the boys at Iwatobi High School.

* * *

The day had ended a high note for Gou. Todays meeting for the Iwatobi Swim Club had gone great! Rei was improving more with his Butterfly stroke and the other three boys had improved a little on their times! As manager, Gou couldn't help but feel excitement and a small amount of pride.

She had decided to wait for the boys to get dressed by the pool so they could walk to the train station together. She kicked her feet in the water, wanting to find some way of cooling down. It was pretty relaxing feeling the cool water on her feet. It brought a small smile to her face. After a while of being out in the heat, Gou decided to move to the shaded area.

However, when Gou took her feet out of the water and started to stand up, she felt herself slip on the tiling around the pool. She fell in with a loud splash, causing water to hit the concrete. She started flailing around in the water, angry at herself for trying to stand up so quickly in the first place. She held her breath and tried not to open her eyes.

Just then, she felt someone grab her by the waist and start to pull her out of the water. When she felt them reach the surface of the water, she gasped for air and coughed out some water. Her savior swam her over to the latter on the side of the pool and maneuvered her so that she could feel the railing. Her hair was still in her face, so she was grateful to whoever this person was.

Once she was out of the pool, the mystery person helped move the hair out of her eyes so she could wipe the water away. When she opened her eyes, she was incredibly surprised to see that it was Haruka.

"Kou, are you okay?" Haruka asked. Gou was surprised by the slight worry in his usually monotone voice, and surprised by him calling her "Kou." She smiled at him, nodding a couple of times. She felt a little embarrassed though, since she was now soaking wet and just got pulled out of a pool by Haruka.

Haruka nodded and walked over to the locker area. Gou's eyes followed him and she noticed that all the swimmers were there, visibly worried and relieved at the same time. After a couple of minutes, Haruka returned and brought her some towels and told her that he contacted Amakata-sensei and she said she'll try to find something dry for her to wear. Gou thanked him and tried drying herself off, blushing slightly.

Thankfully, nothing else occurred after that and Ama-chan arrived quickly with something for Gou to wear. It was a little big, but Gou thanked her for the dry clothes, she could deal with them easily.

* * *

When Gou returned home, she didn't feel as well as she did earlier. She sneezed when she entered the house and started blowing her nose. She really hoped she wasn't getting sick or anything, she didn't want to miss a day of school over something as silly as a cold. Shrugging it off, she got dressed in different clothes and reminded herself to return the other clothes to Amakata-sensei. She then returned to the living room, only to sneeze again.

She grabbed her bag and went back up to her room, hoping to get a little bit of homework done early so she could have some time to herself. She sneezed some more and decided to grab a tissue box from the hall closet, just in case her nose started running. Turns out she was right to do so, her nose kept running and she felt unusually cold. She tried returning back to her schoolwork, but she couldn't concentrate. Decided to give up and try later, she took a nap, hoping it would be quick and that whatever she was feeling would go away when she woke back up.

By the time she woke up, however, her mom entered the room and shook Gou awake, telling her that it was dinner time and that she needed to get ready for bed soon.

Gou groaned silently when her mother left the room. Great, it looks like she would be spending some time doing homework before bed and possibly finishing it in the morning.

The next morning, Gou finished the some of her homework and got dressed in her uniform. She found a plastic bag and put the clothes Amakata-sensei let her borrow into it. She sneezed again and decided to grab a couple of tissues while she was at it for the train ride to school.

While on the way to school, Gou sneezed more times than she would've liked and used up all the tissues she brought with her. She also hoped that she would be able to finish the remainder of her homework before class started.

When she arrived to the front gate of the school, she saw Makoto waiting for her. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

"Good morning, Gou." Makoto greeted.

"Good morning, Makoto-senpai." she greeted back, smiling again. However, she soon sneezed again and tried to hide the fact that her nose was running.

Makoto noticed this and frowned slightly, was Gou sick?

"Gou, are you okay?" When she nodded, Makoto looked more worried and took Gou by the hand that wasn't covering her nose. Gou, surprised by this, yelped slightly. Makoto then started walking -dragging to any onlookers- her to the inside of the building. They stopped at Gou locker and Makoto indicated her to take off her shoes and slip into the other shoes. When she did, she looked up to see a mini packet of tissues shoved into her face. She looked up farther to see a determined, but soft look on Makoto's face. She could tell that he was requesting her to take one, or the whole packet. Understanding the request, Gou took the packet and took out a tissue and blew her nose into one.

When she opened her eyes, she was greeted to Makoto's smiling face and small nod. She nodded back, thanking him for the tissues.

Eventually, the other swimmers arrived to the locker area and greeted the duo. Gou smiled at them and silently thanked Makoto again for the tissues. She hoped they would last the day.

* * *

It was when Gou, Rei, and Nagisa were about to arrive to class when the next incident of why she thinks the boys at Iwatobi High School were weird. Waiting outside their class were two boys, one she recognized from yesterday during lunch and another boy. Rei and Nagisa both froze when they saw the two boys, but Gou didn't seemed bothered by them. She was about to continue walking into the class when one of the two boys grabbed her arm. Taken back by this, Gou stared at the other boy. She noticed that he was… smirking -smiling smugly?- at her and brought her closer to him. The other boy from lunch looked just as taken back by this as she was.

Behind her, Rei and Nagisa were fuming with anger. How dare he just grab Gou like that!

The other boy leaned in closer to Gou's face, ignoring the glares he was getting from the two boys behind Gou. "So babe, I was just wondering-" That was the last straw.

In an instant, the other boy let her go and was pushed back into the wall. When Gou turned around, she noticed that Rei was no longer behind her, but beside her instead. Had he pushed the other boy away from her?

"Oi! Leave her alone you creep!" Rei yelled, catching the attention from a couple of students in the hallway. They started muttering, wondering what was going on. The other boy, however, looked surprised to see Rei actually be aggressive like that. Gou looked over at the boy from lunch and saw that he was looking at his best friend with horror. The boy looked at Gou, Nagisa, and Rei before grabbing his friend's wrist and dragging him down the hallway quickly. The other students held their gazes to the scared boys before looking back at the trio of students before them.

Before anyone could ask any questions, however, Rei coughed in his hand slightly. There was a bit of blush on his face that he tried to adjust by fixing his glasses. He turned back to Gou and Nagisa, ushering them to walk into the classroom. Nagisa did just that, practically skipping into the classroom. Gou was still surprised and didn't move, staring at Rei. Rei avoided her gaze and decided to walk into the classroom, leaving a stunned Gou outside the classroom.

* * *

After school, Gou was surprised again by her brother's sudden appearance. He was leaning on the school gateway and when Gou arrived, he got off the wall and walked over to Gou. She said goodbye to the boys and walked faster so she could meet her older brother. Rin glanced over at the group of swimmers before returning his attention to Gou. They walked together out of the school grounds and down the sidewalk.

Once it got too quiet between the two of them, Gou decided to break the ice. "It's not that I don't like spending time with you big brother, but what are you doing here?" Rin frowned a little, what was he doing here? Yeah he missed his sister a little, but it's not really like him to do this.

But earlier today he had gotten a text from Nagisa about how some boy tried hitting on his sister and something in him snapped. He didn't like that, not at all. His sister was a precious girl and, judging by how Nagisa described this guy, the guy sounded like a total tool. He was worried that the guy might try to hit on her again and decided to show up just incase.

But being the guy that he was, he didn't want to let his little sister know that he was worried about her over something like boy issues. So he decided to answer with something else.

"What? I can't come see my sister after school?" Rin asked. "I just thought that we should hang out a little, but if you don't want to then-"

"Oh! Well then, let's go big brother!" Gou said, interrupting her brother. She smiled and ran ahead of him, wanting to get home and get dressed into something else quickly. Rin sighed and ran after her, yelling at her to wait up.

Gou decided to go to the mall to hang out, much to Rin's displeasure. He had a feeling that he would be carrying a lot of her bags if they went shopping at any of the stores Gou liked. As it turned out, he was right. They must have gone to fifty different stores in the last half hour and Rin had to be carrying tons of different bags. Thankfully, they weren't very heavy and there weren't too many.

Rin was also starting to have fun being with his sister. He missed the days when he and Gou could act like this. Rin might also be getting some sort of sadistic pleasure out of keeping boys away from Gou with a heated glare and he made sure to show his teeth too when he sneered at them.

Thankfully, his sister didn't seem to notice and Rin got to continue his fun of keeping these boys away from his innocent little sister. As far as he was concerned, he was doing his job as an older brother and if Gou noticed, he would shrug it off. After all, it was his job to keep high school boys away from her. Who knows what they'll do.

* * *

Seijuurou Mikoshiba was having a wonderful day. His team was ready for the next tournament and they got to end practice early! Seijuurou decided to head home and get dressed into something else, he had time to spare and he didn't have a lot of homework to do. So he decided that he'll do it later and got dressed for a trip to the mall. He remembered his mom telling him that he needed more clothes and decided that he might as well fix this today.

When he arrived to the mall, he headed for his usual store and was able to spend enough money to buy himself some new clothes. While riding down the escalators, he noticed two heads of red hair in the food plaza. One of them he recognized to be Rin, ordering some ice cream from one of the vendors. The other one, however, grabbed his attention. His beloved Gou-kun was there, sitting at one of the tables. His whole demeanor changed as he tried to straighten himself out to full height. He fixed his hair slightly and got off the escalator, setting his bags aside at a nearby table, and walked over to the table Gou was sitting at. He stopped, however, when another boy walked over to her table first.

The other boy was smirking and clearly trying to talk to her, but Gou wouldn't have any if that. She glared at the other teen before turning her head the other way. The boy looked annoyed at this and decided to sit next to her and grab her arm, trying to force her attention onto him. Gou looked angry by this and was clearly trying to tell the other boy to knock it off. He didn't listen to her though, and opted for looking her over. He smirked again and leaned in closer. Gou, looking disgusted by this, tried to pull away but the other boys grip on her tightened.

Something in Seijuurou snapped and he rushed forward, pulling Gou away from the other boy and pushed her behind him. After doing that, he glared angrily at the other teen, who looked completely stunned by the older teens actions.

"Listen here you jerk!" Seijuurou said, glaring intensely at the younger boy. "Don't you ever fucking grab her like that again! Or else you'll be dealing with me! Got it?!" The other boy trembled before dashing off, trying to put as much distance as he could from Seijuurou. After he left the area, Seijuurou returned his attention to Gou, wanting to check that she was okay.

"Are you okay, Gou-kun?" Seijuurou asked.

"Yes, I'm fine." she answered, snapping out of her daze. She then looked annoyed at the older teen, clearly pouting. "And I thought I told you not to call me that!"

Seijuurou smiled brightly, happy to hear that his beloved was okay. His eyes then brightened when he realized they were still alone. This could be the perfect time to ask Gou out! Maybe they could walk around the mall together or-

"Oh Captain. What are you doing here?" Seijuurou heart sunk a little at hearing Rin's voice, there went his chance to ask out Gou!

"Oh um... I was just riding down the escalators when I saw you two! I thought I should join you two!" Seijuurou answered, hoping that Rin wouldn't realize that he tried asking Gou out again. The first time he tried, rin had dragged Gou off somewhere!

"Oh well, okay." Rin said, narrowing his eyes at the Captain. "Is that cool with you Gou?"

"Mm. It's fine with me!" she said, smiling at her older brother. The action practically melted Seijuurou's heart. She was so cute!

The moment ended with Rin telling Seijuurou to go grab his bags and an ice cream. Seijuurou nodded and turned around to grab his belongings and move them to the other table. Just as he was turning around to get himself an ice cream, his eyes locked with Gou's.

_"Thank you."_ they said. Seijuurou grin became much larger and ge winked at her.

_"No problem my beloved Gou-kun."_ he thought while walking over to the ice cream stand.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you enjoyed this! And reviews are appreciated!


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